ABOUT SAN DIEGO FILIPINO CINEMA

Emma Francisco grew up in Manila, Philippines and moved to San Francisco where she studied Cinema at San Francisco State University. Emma believes in the power of cinema to inspire and empower people to create meaningful and positive changes in their communities. As an independent film producer, her artistic goal is to be able to produce compelling films that have the power to impact people’s lives. Since 2003, Emma has been producing both short and feature documentary and narrative film projects that tackle social justice issues such as cultural preservation, immigration, economic disparities, the struggles of the transgender community in the workplace, violence against women, and issues of education in developing countries. The first feature film she produced, Boundary by Benito Bautista won the NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) Best Film Award in 2011 at the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and garnered multiple nominations including Best Picture at the Gawad Urian (Filipino Film Critics). She is currently producing two feature films and two short films in different stages of production. In 2017, Emma co-founded the non-profit organization San Diego Filipino Cinema and serves as its program director. San Diego Filipino Cinema is home to the largest curation and exhibition of independent Filipino films in the U.S. today.

Jo has been in the creative industry for quite a while now. He has worked as an art director and multimedia artist in creative agencies catering to various brands, both local and international. He has been involved in branding, marketing campaigns, production of event materials as well as video production. His passion for photography and film motivated him to pursue color grading which he practices on the side. His exposure to diverse working environments allowed him to develop flexibility and a wide range of art styles, from minimalist to surreal types of executions.
Jo has always been an advocate of eco-sustainability. He was one of the founding members of a local volunteer organization and was also given the chance to do volunteer work in other organizations such as Green Peace. He strongly supports the local music scene and was also into organizing gigs a few years back. Jo has always believed in going the extra mile and it clearly shows in his work more so in life.

He is an artist based in the Philippines who has created posters for numerous critically-acclaimed Filipino films and blockbusters— “Aswang”, “Markova: Comfort Gay,” “Karnal,” “Die Beautiful”, “Excuse Me Miss, Miss, Miss” and “Honor Thy Father” to name a few. He became more widely known for his works in ABS-CBN Film Restoration, with which he has created more than 200 new posters for restored classic films under the Sagip Pelikula (Save the Cinema) Campaign.
Justin started his career as an advertising coordinator and graphic designer for Star Cinema, the film outfit of ABS-CBN. While in film marketing, he learned the creative processes involved in designing movie posters and was encouraged to give it a try, thus sparking his long-term career as a film poster designer. He, together with the marketing team, strived to innovate local mainstream posters, which caught the attention of various producers. As his works got out, doors started opening for him trom different production outfits both mainstream and independent. Unbeknown to many, his works are quite ubiquitous in every film festival in the country. His most notable ones are from the Cinemalaya Film Festival, Cinema One Originals, Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino, and Metro Manila Film Festival. As someone who loves traveling, his works have also traveled overseas and have represented the country in various international film festivals — Sundance, TIFF, Karlovy Vary Film Festival, and the Tokyo Film Festival to name a few. Apart trom films, Justin also works for television dramas, over-the-top series, print, and music.
As an artist, he is fond of doing surreal concepts — the style he has developed when he discovered his passion for digital arts. Most of his works rely heavily on digital, but being a Fine Arts major in Advertising graduate, he practices traditional media too. This background allows him to mix different artistic styles and maneuver from one style to another to create unique visuals in every film he works on.
During Cinemalaya 2014, he won the Best Poster award for the film “Asintado”. Since beginning his career as a designer, Justin has been featured in several online magazines; he was tagged by Metro Society as one of the remarkable new talents in the local cinemas, featured in Rogue Magazine, CNN Life, and various arts and film sites.

Before migrating to the US in 2020, Vida was a TV writer and Concept Developer of sitcom, anthology, and narrative TV series for 15 years through various TV networks in the Philippines (ABSCBN, GMA and TV5) and a Writer and Stage Manager for large-scale events.
She is also a Development Communication practitioner by producing health, sustainable livelihood and grassroots communication materials and developing Social Marketing and Social Mobilization programs for private corporations and NGOs.
She is currently taking her Masters in Development Communication at the University of the Philippines Open University.
Her ongoing research focuses on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries. She believes that through her research, she can use the power of Cinema as an instrument to create sustainable, substantial and significant change in the community.
Moreover, travelling and immersing in diverse cultures excite and give her a profound understanding of humanity.

Trixi Anne Agiao is a socially conscious dance filmmaker and videographer using the digital guise of The Thoughtful Beast. Trixi creates work centered on fighting the stigma against mental illness and mental health. Utilizing visual storytelling experience as a dancer and choreographer, Trixi sets out to make videos that kinesthetically connect with her audience. She recently had her work showcased in San Diego. Her short film, “#BADASSBITCH”, was selected to be part of the 2020 San Diego Film Week. “Check Your Own Privilege” was chosen to screen at the 2020 San Diego Filipino Cinema’s Lokal Shorts. Trixi also hosts her own podcast called “Ready to Talk” where she has conversations about mental health issues like mental illness and social justice.